Tapering tang mortises - tips?

Re: Tapering tang mortises - tips?

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>Absolutely unnecessary and a waste of time. The right method to mount a tanged cutting tool in its handle is to burn it in. You start with a round, straight drilled hole, about the size of the small end of the tang. You clamp the tool in a machinists vise just at the top of the tang. This acts as a heat sink, so the bigger the vise the better. You can even saturate a little paper towel in water and wrap it around the tool between the tool and the vise jaws to help with heat transfer. This keeps the hardened cutting end of the tool from losing its hardness. Then you heat the tang to a dark red and quickly plunge the handle onto the tang, burning a hole in the wood the shape of the tang. Tap it home with a mallet. If it doesn't go all the way on, you can repeat the process.

Back up at the top, to speed the process a bit, you can also enlarged the drilled hole by rocking the drill bit from side to side. Just make sure your drilled hole stays smaller everywhere than the final size.

Re: Tapering tang mortises - tips?

Scott in Douglassville, PA

>Interesting idea, William. I'm not sure how I'll hold the curved iron yet, but that can be cobbled out.

Is this the way tanged spokeshave irons were mounted in old wooden shaves?

Thanks for the help.

Scott

Re: Tapering tang mortises - tips?

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>I can't say for sure that that was always the way that particular cat was skinned, but it is the method recommended by Alexander Weygers, Todd Hughes, and other blacksmiths. It works well on wood, but not on plastic Nicholson file handles :^)

If you can't get a grip on it with your vise, try two pairs of large vise grips. Just be careful how much heat you apply, as they don't sink as much heat as vise jaws. You can hold one of the pairs of VG handles in the vise while you work.

Re: Tapering tang mortises - tips?

John Aniano in NJ...

>Scott and Sir William,

Todd Hughes make me a really nice drawknife several years ago. I turned the handles from osage orange. Todd and I agreed on this tang mounting method - he made the tangs very long and they went completely through and exited out the rear of both handles. Todd then made 2 rounded metal (copper or brass I think) dished washers and he then peined the tang ends so these washers would not come loose. The washers have the same rounded shape as did the original turned handles - they can be considered really just caps.

I have several other old edge tools like this and they were made the same way. Since you are usually pulling on the handles, you don't want them to pop off; the peined washer/caps prevent that from happening.

John

Re: Tapering tang mortises - tips?

Darrell in Oakville

>I think everyone has missed the point of what Scott is trying to do here. It's a travisher, like a curved wood bodied spokeshave. It's used for cleanup when hollowing windsor chair seats nowadays. So all this burned in and peined on stuff isn't going to work. That iron has to be easily removed from the stock for sharpening.

So Scott, did the drilling and chiseling plus smoking the tangs work out?

Darrell

Wood Hoarder, Blade Sharpener, and Occasional Tool User

Re: Oops!

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>You're right, Darrell. Burning works for tools with one tang, but I have not much hope you would be successful with it fitting two tangs at a time. Sorry for the misdirection.

Re: Tapering tang mortises - tips?

paul womack

>The right method to mount a tanged cutting tool in its handle is to burn it in.

I have no doubt (given the number of proponents) that this works.

But I've never seen the tell tale blackening on any old tool, certainly not a factory made one.

There is another way, but I'm damned if I know what it is. The holes must have been prepared "somehow". There is NO WAY you'd put a pigsticker mortice chisel tang into a parallel hole without splitting the handle; the tangs are relatively short and very steeply tapered.

BugBear

Re: Tapering tang mortises - tips?

Todd Hughes

>I have made a few spoke shaves and what I did was just use and old file with a tang the same size [about] as the tang on the blade and used it to burn the hole to size then put the blade into place. Have done the same [but with a longer tang] where you don't want to heat the tang up because you will have to pein it over and if steel it may cool to fast and be harder then you want. ....I have seen a few old chisels and hand made shaves that has shown signs of being fitted this way but not most. I think these factory made shaves even 150 plus years ago had the tapered holes cut out on some type morticing machine but have to admit to just speculating now....Todd

Yeah! What Darrell said...

Scott in Douglassville, PA

>Funny thing - I used that picture as a guide...

Travisher's coming along - got the mortises cut and tapered yesterday. Not the cleanest you'll ever see, but snug as can be. There's still some fettling to do with the shape and a ton of rasp work, but it works. I bought the 3/8" sweep iron from Drew Langsner; I can see where I'll need the 1/4" one as well, so I'm considering this a skill-building exercise.

The drilling/chiseling/smoking protocol worked like a charm. Took about an hour to get everything just so, and that was with a ton of hemming and hawing and impatience with my 1/8 sash mortise chisel.

I appreciate all the help, everyone.

Scott, pics forthcoming